Search The Register-Guard

archive

Oregon Men Cross Country

A new beginning

Puskedra overcomes sickness, injury to lead men’s cross country team

By Curtis Anderson

The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Friday, Nov. 12, 2010, page C1

Two years ago, when Oregon senior Galen Rupp crossed the finish line in first place at the 2008 NCAA cross country championships to help the Ducks secure their second straight national title, he wheeled around and looked for his teammates.

He didn’t have to wait long.

For there, chugging down the homestretch, was Luke Puskedra, the tall, gangly UO freshman with the unruly locks from Ogden, Utah.

Puskedra turned in a remarkable fifth-place finish in his first appearance on the national stage that day, the best freshman performance at the NCAA championships by an Oregon runner since Steve Prefontaine placed third in 1969.

“What a great race by Luke!” gushed Rupp in the postrace media tent. “Fifth place as a freshman. That’s pretty impressive.”

The 6-foot-5 Puskedra, who always stands out in a crowd, especially in a tightly packed cross country race, would later be named 2008 Pac-10 cross country newcomer of the year.

He went on to represent Team USA at the IAAF World Junior Cross Country Championships in Jordan in March. He closed out his UO rookie campaign as one of only two freshmen to earn all-American honors in cross country, indoor and outdoor track.

Expectations couldn’t have been higher.

But as a sophomore last year, Puskedra was unable to sustain that level of performance.

He was 21st at the NCAA cross country meet, and it appeared that placing so high so early in his career might have been more of a burden than a blessing.

“Luke had a magic day at the NCAAs his freshman year,” said Vin Lananna, in his sixth season as the UO director of track and field and cross country.

“I think that all the stars lined up. He ran hard all season, he had good leaders in Galen (Rupp) and Shadrack (Biwott), and we had a good team ... but I certainly wouldn’t want Luke to be measured against having this magic day.”

Sick and tired

Puskedra has embarked on a new beginning this fall.

On Saturday, you’ll find him in his customary spot among the front-runners at the NCAA West Regional cross country meet at Springfield Country Club as the third-ranked Ducks chase an automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA championships on Nov. 22 in Terre Haute, Ind.

Puskedra has placed sixth at the NCAA West Regional in each of the past two years, and while he may have slipped under the national radar in some circles, he enters the final 10 days of this season more confident and mature than at any other point in his UO career.

“I put a lot of unnecessary pressure on myself last year,” Puskedra said. “Not so much this time. Last year, we were rebuilding as a team. We lost both Galen and Shaddie and that was big. This year, we’re coming together on our own.”

And, as it turns out, there were other issues that Puskedra was dealing with last season.

After the NCAA cross country meet, he and his family stopped in Decatur, Ill., on their way home to spend Thanksgiving with his grandparents. His grandfather, an orthopedic surgeon, could tell that something wasn’t quite right with his normally gregarious grandson.

So, he called some friends and set up an appointment for a blood test. The results showed that Puskedra was iron deficient.

“I had it diagnosed as a freshman, but it wasn’t that bad,” Puskedra said. “I was taking iron supplements, but after the (NCAA) race, I told him I had been feeling tired, and he could tell something was up.

“That was a stepping stone towards getting healthy.”

It didn’t happen overnight. Over the next several months, through the indoor and outdoor track seasons, Puskedra worked as hard as ever but didn’t recover as well. His training was less productive and he was unable to prepare for races as well as his opponents.

“Once you become iron deficient, it’s always a tricky thing to get it back,” Lananna said. “Most of (Luke’s) performances last year were a product of just being banged up and sick. ... Now he’s on the same level playing field as everybody else.”

Taking a break

The other factor cited by Puskedra was taking a much-needed four-week break from any form of exercise after competing in the 10,000 meters at the 2010 NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships at Hayward Field last June.

That’s one race he would like to erase from his memory.

Against the advice of his coaches, Puskedra decided to go with eventual NCAA champion Sam Chelanga when the Liberty University standout broke from the pack at 2,000 meters.

Buoyed by the chants of the crowd, Puskedra failed to notice the enormous gap that Chelanga quickly built from the rest of the field, and by the time he realized his mistake, it was too late.

“I was like, ‘Shoot, I’m all in,’ ” he said.

Puskedra got dropped by Chelanga with a little more than a mile left in the race, and then he was passed by a long string of other runners as he staggered home to a 14th-place finish.

“I walked off the track thinking, ‘Man, this sucks.’ I needed a break. I went home and regrouped and took four weeks off. I had never taken a break from exercising since my sophomore year in high school.”

When he returned to training, Puskedra took things slowly for three to four weeks, running at altitude in Park City, Utah, about an hour from his home.

He was determined to develop a new mindset.

“I realized you don’t need to kill it everyday,” he said. “That’s been the biggest difference.”

His teammates took notice, especially during fall training camp at Sunriver.

“Luke is always a guy you can count on to show up when you need him the most,” said UO senior Matthew Centrowitz. “A lot of the freshmen came in here looking up to him as the guy to lead the team and set a good example. He’s been doing a great job of that.

In his three cross country races this season, Puskedra won the Notre Dame Invitational, finished hand-in-hand with Centrowitz at the Dellinger Invitational, and placed fourth behind a trio of Stanford runners at the Pac-10 meet.

Even Lananna, who is generally cautious in his assessment of his runners, has been impressed.

“Luke is one of those guys that does everything right,” Lananna said. “You’re always cheering for him, hoping on the inside that it will line up right for him, and I think he’s in a position this year for it to line up

“He’s a daredevil. That’s what defines him ... and you know, all of the contenders in the 10,000 are good, but I’ll tell you, I like Luke’s chances to do something big (at the NCAA meet). I think he’s a legitimate contender for the title.”

“Most of (Luke’s) performances last year were a product of just being banged up and sick. ... Now he’s on the same level playing field as everybody else.”